Previews// Midnight Club: Los Angeles - Multiplayer

When, let's call him 'Mr C', turns up from Sony PlayStation to check how it's playing on the PS3 he finds, for a start, we're playing on 360s. Some of these have been donated by, let's call him 'Mr R', and the other Rockstars. Mr C also finds that he has to acclimatise in double-quick time to the pace and manoeuvrability of the cars.

To my disappointment, he does. Then, let's call him 'Mr G', plonks himself on Mr C's shoulder and scares him with shouted instructions - the latter repeatedly rams his RS4 between a lamp-post and a wall a mere two metres from the finish line. Somehow he still manages to beat me. This leaves me shaking my fist in a fury - a feat that had previously only been achieved by Mario Kart Wii. I'm happy/sad to say that Midnight Club LA is far less forgiving than its Wii-y relation

The rain pours and the sun shines, day flees into night and the game world evolves as we try out some more of the 11 modes or variations on modes that can be found in multi-player.

We do a couple of circuit races where I come an unchanging last due to the horrific hairpin bends in the Hollywood hills. The crashes are spectacular - causing me to wince whenever I hit a wall at high speed - particularly on the Ninja. When enough damage has befallen your car you get a new one with all your boosts back in play. At least this means that crashes are time penalties rather than there being any greater punishment afterwards.

Despite MCLA's obvious beauty there are some elements in the map that seem undeveloped. When one smashes through the glass doors of an office building or shopping centre, there is very little inside except the odd unruffled pedestrian and another exit. Some of these buildings just seem to be indoors crossroads. There was one time where there was an escalator - that was good.

There were no SUVs and no pick ups, as R* wants to "tone down the DUB magazine elements"; so there won't be any fancy tour of Britain with sexy cars and sexy ladies to promote it either.

The DUB issue has obviously been a tricky point. The Rockstar chaps said how good it had been working as a company with DUB magazine and how glad they were to have got the vehicle licensing and customisation through it (there's still lots of customisation to be done in LA, never fear!) But there were issues with the English market not really 'getting' it and needing a lot of hand-holding. Taking that out seems to mean us 'Brits' (Urghghg) are missing out on a layer of inclusion that has not been replaced. My suggestions for getting Top Gear in to do some UK promotions was met with (rightly) disparaging looks. Max Power? It's too late.

After a few ventures into 'King' mode (pick up and race to drop-off point repeatedly) and 'Keep Away' (how many seconds you can keep the tag for without someone crashing into you and stealing it?); after mucking about with the specials - being able to trap others in blocks of ice or reverse their controls - we pop into the garage and it is revealed that we're already driving customised cars! The blue bars on-screen that indicate the potential for pimping are at least half full. This means a more gradual increase in acceleration as points are accrued and modifications are made.